


Softer Than Salt

by connorssock, Yantiu



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alien Cultural Differences, Anal Sex, M/M, Mates, Mating, Naga Gavin Reed, Oviposition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:33:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25134691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/connorssock/pseuds/connorssock, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yantiu/pseuds/Yantiu
Summary: The mission had been a simple one, gather information on the unexplored areas of space and send information back to CyberLife. That was all Nines had to do and he was content. He didn't anticipate the shuttle to develop a fault and force him to land on an alien planet with some very interesting natives.
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Comments: 5
Kudos: 154
Collections: New ERA Discord: Reverse Big Bang





	Softer Than Salt

**Author's Note:**

> Written as part of the New Era Discord Server's Reverse Big Bang. I had the absolute pleasure of writing for some truly stunning art by Yantiskra (Twitter: @Yauwow_ - a NSFW account).

The one blessing of being an android was that when the shuttle started to malfunction, Nines wasn’t overly worried about things like life support going down. As long as temperatures didn’t drop too low, he could function, even if there was no air left in the shuttle. The alarm blaring was a silent one in that it didn’t have an audio output but internally, he was awash with warnings and pop-ups in his HUD. Whoever designed him was an absolute idiot because they blocked his vision and Nines could barely see where he was guiding the shuttle. Communication with the base had cut off a few hours ago and he hadn’t been able to repair the connection. Something about the planet he had been passing by had interfered with the shuttle’s onboard computer but, for some reason, had left him untouched.

There was very little hope of being able to repair the ship so Nines was doing his best to land the shuttle on the planet and start emitting a distress signal as soon as he was certain there was something worth rescuing. That was assuming anyone would even want to come out that far to gather the remains and information Nines hadn’t managed to send home yet. It wasn’t something he had time to worry too much about though as the shuttle screeched through the atmosphere, parts of it breaking off. After a few tense minutes, it thudded into the ground in a jungle, uprooting a few trees and leaving a gouge in its wake as it came to a skidding halt.

Everything was silent. The alarms had died with the engine, not a flicker of power sparked in the shuttle. Nines unbuckled himself from the control port and set about cataloguing the damage, it was quite extensive. There was nothing for it, he was going to have to try and repair it before he could hope to send a distress signal. Which meant he would have to venture out into the area surrounding the shuttle. His scans had shown that there were maybe a few primitive lifeforms that inhabited the planet but nothing technologically advanced. Not needing time to recover from the crash or requiring any kind of repairs to his body, Nines set about exploring.

Around the shuttle, the jungle was silent, still spooked by the chaotic and destructive entrance but it meant Nines could explore in peace. There was no danger of a local predator deciding he looked like an interesting meal. Not that Nines would have been a sufficient or healthy source of nutrients, he was made of circuits and complex technology, definitely not something an organic creature ought to ingest.

If his internal clock was anything to go by, he had been out for six hours, cataloguing the vegetation and assessing what could be useful in repairs. He would be able to cobble together a generator for electricity from a waterfall nearby to power the shuttle’s interior lighting and computers. That was a good start. Returning to the shuttle, Nines froze as he entered the hatch. He was not alone.

In the living area of the shuttle, the bed had been opened up and all manner of soft materials piled onto it. If Nines had to give it a name, it was a nest, in the middle of which was a local lifeform. From the waist up he was humanoid and seemed quite standard. However, below the waist he had a strong, striped tail whose browns matched the hair on top of his head.

“Hey!” Said lifeform scowled at him. “Get out. This is mine now.”

“I’m afraid I cannot do that. This shuttle belongs to CyberLife of the planet Earth. You may lay no claim to it.”

“I found it, it’s mine. Now piss off.” Despite the harsh words, Nines detected no real aggression. If anything, the seemed to be scenting the air, curious about Nines. When Nines didn’t respond to his claims of ownership, he shrugged. “Stay if you want, see if I care.”

As if Nines was going to leave. He had duties to fulfil, property and information to return to CyberLife. One local lifeform wasn’t going to derail his plans.

Days and nights worked differently than Earth, Nines noted. There was natural light for 22 hours and darkness for a further 6. It suited him just fine and in the first cycle, he had managed to fashion a generator.

“What are you doing?”

Nines did not jump or get surprised. At all. He merely experiences a small glitch where his systems froze up and ran a virus scan on his spatial awareness because his sudden roommate was not by his shoulder when he last checked. Alas, there was nothing in his systems he could attribute his lapse to.

“What do you care? I don’t even know your name, why would I tell you anything about what I’m doing?”

“Gavin.” The name was so simple, Nines needed another moment to process it.

“Alright, Gavin,” he nodded. “I’m making a generator to power the shuttle.”

“I never caught your name,” Gavin called after him, slithering back into the nest.

“My serial number is RK900 313-248-317 67. My handlers referred to me as Nines.”

With that, he left to set up the generator. He didn’t expect Gavin to slither after him and watch. One thing Nines did notice was the frequency with which Gavin licked his lips or darted his tongue out when near Nines. It didn’t make much sense but he decided to ignore it, instead putting all his focus into setting the generator up. It whirred to life, exactly as Nines knew it would because his schematics were flawless.

Back at the shuttle, he flipped open the cover for the distress call. Without hesitation, he pushed it and watched as Gavin tipped his head to the side, as if trying to listen.

“I don’t think it worked.”

Not a helpful observation at all and also incorrect. Nines’s HUD informed him it was broadcasting its first loop. The count would be kept track of until it was picked up and answered. Slowly, the numbers ticked up in Nines’ HUD and he was satisfied he had done his best. It was time to get on with everything else.

While Nines didn’t require rest, Gavin grumbled and whined when it got dark and Nines simply kept going, switching his vision to low light level surroundings.

“Come to the nest,” Gavin enticed, tongue darting out again. He leaned closer and whispered, “It is big enough for us both.”

Weighing up his options, Nines decided to humour Gavin. It was better to delay his work by a few hours than to have an enraged native wreaking havoc on the already damaged shuttle. He even followed Gavin’s suggestion of taking his shoes and socks off. The delighted laugh at the sight of his toes was a sound Nines automatically stored in his memory.

“You have five tips on your two tails!” Gavin was absolutely fascinated and he made Nines wriggle them, at which he fell back with a bright laugh. “Do your other coverings come off too?”

“They do but there is no need to remove them.”

Shrugging, Gavin hauled Nines into the nest, he was deceptively strong. Even worse, he twisted and coiled around Nines, pulling him into a strange embrace, arms trapped under warm, try scales. Gavin’s head leaned in close to Nines and stared, tongue wetting lips.

“Nest mate,” he whispered. “I can tolerate you as a nest mate.”

Nines nodded, too confused by what that could mean to truly respond. However, it seemed to satiate Gavin and he wrapped arms and tail tighter around Nines before falling asleep. So much for Nines’ plan to keep working once Gavin had fallen asleep.

The snuffling and sleepy tightening of coils stopped as the sun rose. Nines watched as Gavin’s coils loosened as the sun’s rays cast rays over the nest. It only his him then that the enthusiastic cuddling was probably to do with heat, Nines watched as Gavin uncurled and sprawled in the sun like a cat back on earth.

“I like your smell,” Gavin mumbled, eyes still closed. “It’s subtle.”

As far as Nines was aware, he didn’t have any kind of scent associated with him. At least, not one his sensors could pick up.

“It’s why I was drawn in,” Gavin kept muttering, flopping back against Nines. “Everyone else is too strong, too much.”

The tongue darted out again but this time, it made contact with Nines’ neck, eliciting a happy hum from Gavin. “Clean. Mate.”

It had to be a local dialect that Nines was not familiar with because ‘mate’ implied many things he couldn’t possibly be to Gavin. They weren’t compatible species, Nines wasn’t even a species at that. Yet, it didn’t seem to bother Gavin, given the way he was tracing his tongue up Nines’ neck and around the shell of his ear.

As Gavin finally woke up and let Nines go, he was out of the bed and keen to get back to work. He didn’t mind his silent shadow as Gavin watched, curious and attentive.

“Why are you doing this?”

“To summon a rescue party. I have data I need to relay to CyberLife.” That was the most obvious thing. Nines had been made to explore and gather information that needed to be sent back to the company and help broaden their horizons. It was the sole purpose of Nines’ existence. It seemed to subdue Gavin and he hummed, slithering off into the undergrowth.

Each day, Gavin looked at the big red button that had started off the distress beacon. And every time, Nines told him “don’t touch that”. He needed to get back to CyberLife, had to return with the data he had gathered.

Slowly, Gavin started to change. He brought Nines things in an attempt to share meals but Nines didn’t eat. So he next brought some fresh furs to help him sleep despite Nines never sleeping. The furs were squirrelled away after his rejection, Gavin muttering about how “they were stinky anyway” and Nines let him. There were skeins of water, vines to help tether shuttle parts into place, ever a few carved pieces of wood which served well as screwdrivers when, inevitably, Gavin’s tail knocked one off its place and into the undergrowth.

“Why are you doing this?” Nines asked in the end, unable to identify the motive.

“I’m trying to be a good fucking mate.” There was that word again, mates. Nines frowned and turned away from the panel he had been trying to patch up, the vines Gavin had brought were useless for the outside, they wouldn’t hold things together in space but they were good inside the shuttle. “We’re going back to your planet, so I’m helping.”

“We?” Nines had a sinking realisation that there wasn’t a miscommunication about the meaning of ‘mate’ here, only his stubborn refusal to believe it.

Looking at Gavin, he wished he had cottoned onto it sooner because now Gavin was frowning, looking a little timid.

“I thought-” Gavin’s fingers twisted together. “You stayed and we share a nest. You accepted the better courting gifts I offered. You even gave one back in return.”

He lifted a hand to show off a broken washer Nines had thrown at him a few weeks prior. It had been with the intention of it needing to be disposed of and he thought Gavin knew that. Except, it was quite obvious he didn’t.

The longer the silence went on, the more dejected Gavin looked. “I know I’m not an ideal mate. Too fussy, too small, cold too often. But I can be useful.”

Something wasn’t right, Nines hadn’t seen Gavin look so vulnerable before. Usually, he was feisty, calling Nines all sorts of names when woken up. Scanning over Gavin, Nines detected an elevated temperature, a slight distortion of his abdomen, higher blood pressure and, after a quick lick of Gavin’s wrist, a change in his hormone profile.

“I’m sorry,” Gavin mumbled, looking devastated. “I’ll find somewhere else.”

Hand tightening on Gavin’s wrist, Nines held him in place with a stricter than necessary “stay” and watched him. “What’s going on?”

The mumble wasn’t clear enough for even Nines to parse so he stared at Gavin whose tail tip flicked with stress. Staring for longer meant Gavin shrank away from Nines more and more but he didn’t break free from his grip. In the end, Gavin gave in. “The clutch is ready.”

Clutch. Mate. The changes in Gavin. His nesting of the last couple of days had been almost obsessive. Nines understood. Even though he didn’t because it wasn’t something he had ever experienced himself. Androids weren’t capable of love. Nines wasn’t built with companionship in mind. He had never expected anyone to find him desirable beyond his capabilities as a machine. What he was made for though, was to help. It was so easy to rewrite a few subroutines and have that help focus on Gavin instead of CyberLife’s bottom line.

“What do you need?”

As far as first kisses went, it wasn’t very romantic, more teeth clashing and nose bumping than anything else. But Nines couldn’t feel pain and it seemed Gavin didn’t care.

“Will you take my clutch?”

“Of course.” Nines agreed. He would have said yes to anything to be honest, if it helped Gavin, he would do his best.

It was the first time Gavin had seen him without clothes. There was no reason for Nines to wear them, Gavin never covered up his torso. The coding about social propriety seemed less pressing when so far from Earth. Quietly, Nines did away with the coding and enjoyed his newfound nudity. Even better was the fascination Gavin had for his body. Hands roamed over him, feeling out his joints, running over hidden ports and exploring to his heart’s content. In turn, Nines did the same, touching where skin gave way to scales, pressed lightly on the soft bulge that was no doubt the clutch Gavin had talked about.

“I don’t know how your body works,” Gavin admitted shyly. “You already seem aroused.”

For the first time in his existence, Nines thanked the perverts who designed him to pass as human on all levels. He smiled at Gavin, and reached to pull him in for another kiss.

“Aren’t you?” He purred and nipped at the shell of his ear. A hand grabbed his and guided it down Gavin’s body until Nines found a small bump, sliding from a slit he hadn’t felt before As he rubbed over it, Gavin’s cocks slipped out of their sheaths, settling in his palm.

“I am now,” Gavin whispered.

Distantly, Nines was aware that this kind of thing took longer to happen for humans, they didn’t breed so soon after meeting. But he was no human, neither was Gavin. If this was the norm for the native species then Nines was more than content to follow their societal rules.

One of Gavin’s hands slipped between them, stroked over Nines’ cock, exploring tentatively. Their bodies were so different, alien to each other and Nines helped take Gavin’s hand, pushed it between his legs to show him where he wanted to be. It was worth the soft, wide eyed ‘oh’ and Gavin’s careful pushing.

There was no pain but Nines stopped Gavin for a moment, urging him to find something to slick the way. Really, Nines was quite certain he wouldn’t be damaged but he didn’t want to take the risk. So he stayed in the best while Gavin slithered off, only to return with a new vine from somewhere nearby. Snapping it in half, it oozed a clear sap that smelled faintly fresh. It was going to have to do and Nines spread his legs a little wider to make room for his mate.

Fumbling, Gavin managed to get Nines slick, two fingers pressed impatiently into his hole. Once they were certain it was okay, Gavin pulled out and lined up one of his cocks. A notification about an intrusion popped up in Nines’ HUD and he swiped it aside with annoyance. He was more than aware that he was being impaled, it was with his enthusiastic consent. Above him, Gavin had tucked close to Nines, face in the crook of his neck, tongue darting out from time to time.

They didn’t move as such, no thrusting like Nines’ human expectations but they did rock together. Gavin panted and moaned a little which was when Nines felt his cock swell and the first egg was passed into his body. It was a curious sensation, his HUD ablaze with alerts that Nines valiantly ignored. Especially when two more eggs were squeezed into him. They kept coming, forcing their way deep into his chassis and Nines found himself loving the way it overloaded his systems. He lost count of how many eggs had been laid in him, only caring that Gavin was above him, clinging to him and shivering with each egg.

“Give me a whole brood,” Nines murmured in his ear. “I want them all. Fill me up.”

The words made Gavin whine and buck, three eggs slipping into Nines in quick succession. There were too many, Nines could barely see again, the worry of his component being stretched and split made him sigh. With a final, soft cry, Gavin seemed to be done and he pulled back to admire his handiwork. Nines’ chassis was distended with their clutch, curving outwards to try and keep all the eggs safe.

“Three days and I’ll need to fertilise them,” Gavin sighed.

Which meant three days of Nines filled and content in their nest. He could easily get used to that. Nodding, he licked his lips in imitation of Gavin.

“I just need to do one thing.”

Getting out of the nest was difficult, especially because it meant leaving Gavin behind. But Nines was on a mission. He waddled to the cockpit, one hand supporting his stomach, and flipped open the case for the distress beacon broadcast. His HUD read 60,946. More than three weeks of the signal looping every 30 seconds. With a decisive move, Nines pushed the button before his HUD could display 60,947. He didn’t want to be rescued, didn’t want to return. Not when he was finally home.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me bumbling along on tumblr as @connorssock and Yantiskra as @Yauwow_ on Twitter (it's a NSFW account).


End file.
